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22. A Reflection.

I am 22 years old. I shouldn’t even be here. This isn’t even music related. I haven’t written for S&S in a year or more.

The first thing that came to mind for me today was lyrics to a Wu-Tang Clan song: “It’s been 22 long hard years and still strugglin’.”

With every passing year I’m slowly realizing the important and unimportant things in life. I’m certainly not the same person I was five years ago, man, not even close to the same person I was a year ago.

21 was a year of growth for me. A year of conquering fear. A year of forward progress. A year of embracing my humanity.

A year of conquering fear: I conquered my fear of being alone. This was the first year of my life in the past five years that I haven’t been in an active romantic relationship. I took trips, went to shows, saw movies, and did a ton of other things just because I wanted to. That feels really good. It’s a feeling of security. I like feeling secure.

A year of forward progress: I’ve moved from Customer Service Representative of a store 45 minutes from where I live to General Manager of my own store in less than a year’s time. I’ve grown in my spiritual relationship. I’ve built stronger friendships with the people who are closest to me. I’ve dug deeper into my own passions while also learning and becoming a more cultured individual.

A year of embracing my humanity: Over the past year I’ve been trying to preach and practice a doctrine of loving others. Life is fleeting, every day the clock is ticking, and I’m confident all that really matters when I move on from this world is how much I loved people. As long as that shows through my words and actions I am happy and content with the life I’ve lived. That’s all I want to be remembered for, if I’m remembered at all.

However, I am imperfect. I face many internal struggles and demons daily. But I will continue to grow and progress and that is the key to success.

My goal is to do this every year. To take the time to reflect on what I did over the past year of my life and all of the events that took place, good and bad.

So here’s to 22. First stop, the Golden State. From there? Who knows.

I’d like to leave you all with this, kinda sums up what I’ve been trying to say: